Women have fought prejudice and struggled for equal rights and opportunities for hundreds of years. They did it with courage and resolve. In the 20th and early 21st centuries, women have achieved success in many spheres previously reserved to or monopolised by men, but their contributions are still often undervalued and their potential not recognised enough. Only some 20 per cent of the world’s mayors are women.

Corrupt US mayors pose a
threat to decency in society
Research by City Mayors*March 2018: The preamble to the City Mayors’ Code of Ethics states that honest local government is the foundation of any nation that strives to provide its citizens with happiness, security and prosperity. It continues to say that corruption and misconduct by local government officials threaten fundamental decency in a society. America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which warns that public corruption poses a fundamental threat to national security and the US way of life, has over the past four decades brought to justice hundreds of elected officials, who used their positions to enrich themselves. Among those convicted are leaders of some of the largest US cities, including Detroit, New Orleans or Baltimore, but also many mayors from small-town America.

Nashville (TN) Mayor Megan Barry resigned on 6 March 2018 after pleading guilty to theft. Court documents revealed that the Mayor had committed felony theft  theft of property of more than US$10,000. She was sentenced to serve three years probation and has also agreed to reimburse the City of Nashville $11,000. Earlier, Nashville City Hall’s former Head of Security, Rob Forrest, pleaded guilty to theft of property over $10,000. According to CNN, he agreed to serve three years supervised probation and to repay the city of Nashville $45,000. In January Mayor Barry admitted to an affair with Rob Forrest. According to Nashville’s District Attorney, the Mayor spent over $10,000 of city funds on Rob Forrest. Allegedly, Rob Forrest earned more than $170,000 in overtime pay while serving as Megan Barry’s bodyguard.

Also in March 2018, Allentown (PA) Mayor Ed Pawlowski was found guilty of 47 counts of rigging city contracts. During the trial, the jury heard that the Mayor gave city contracts to law firms and businesses that gave him money for campaigns for governor and US Senate. He retaliated against companies that refused to play along or didn't give sufficiently, according to prosecutors. The Mayor, who was re-elected to a fourth term in November 2017 despite the indictment hanging over him, claimed he was not aware campaign staffers and city employees were involved in an alleged pay-to-play scheme for kickbacks and campaign contributions.

The title of the most corrupt US mayor in recent years must go to Detroit’s Kwame Kilpatrick, who took office in 2002, promising to revitalise the city. Instead he used his position to steal from the citizens he had promised to serve. FBI Special Agent Robert Beckman, who investigated the mayor and his corrupt regime for eight years, said that criminal activity was a way of life for him. “He constantly used the power of his office to look for new opportunities to make money illegally.”

In July 2013, Kwame Kilpatrick was given a 28-year prison sentence for racketeering, extortion, bribery and fraud. In its submission the FBI said that Kilpatrick and his associates established a ‘pay to play’ system that made breaking the law standard operating procedure. “Kilpatrick extorted city vendors, rigged bids, and took bribes. He used funds from non-profit civic organisations to line his pockets and those of his family. And he was unabashed about it.”

Trenton’s (NJ) former mayor Tony Mack received a 58-months prison sentence in May 2014 after being convicted of extortion and bribery. Together with his brother Ralphiel, the former mayor operated a scheme of accepting bribes in exchange for assisting local businesses. A member of the US Attorney’s office told the court that within 10 weeks of moving into City Hall, the mayor started to sell influence. “Instead of providing transparent government to the citizens of Trenton, Tony Mack and his brother allowed themselves to succumb to self-interest and greed.”

Ray Nagin, who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2002 to 2010, came to national and international prominence in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed large parts of the city. In 2009, three years after being re-elected to a second term, allegations began to emerge of the mayor using his office to obtain benefits from local companies supplying the city. In February 2014, a court convicted Ray Nagin of bribery and extortion. The court was told that the mayor took more than $500,000 n payouts from businessmen in exchange for millions of dollars' worth of city contracts.

The former mayor’s sentencing brought to a close a sordid chapter in New Orleans’ history in which the man charged with leading a city out of crisis instead chose to enrich himself, his family and friends. Despite New Orleans' long history of political corruption, Nagin was the first mayor to be criminally charged for corruption in office.

List of US mayors who used their office
to enrich themselves and their associates

Mayor

City, state (population)

Indictments

Sentence

Year of sentence

Megan Barry

Nashville, TN, (684,000)

Theft of municipal funds

3 year felony probation plus reimbursement of misappropriated funds

2018

Robert Meyer

New Roads, LA (4,600)

Abuse of office

1 year felony probation and US$10,000 fine

2018

Ed Pawlowski

Allenton, PA (120,000)

Conspiracy, bribery, attempted extortion

Found guilty, March 2018, awaiting sentence

2018

Joey Torres

Paterson, NJ (147,000)

Corruption involving family members

5 years prison

2017

Luis Aguinaga

South El Monte, CA (21,000)

Bribery and corruption

1 year prison

2017

Ken Harycki

Stillwater, MN (19,000)

Conspiracy to defraud US government

1 year prison

2017

Tommy Nelson

New Roads, LA (4,600)

Conspiracy and fraud

Found guilty in 2011, 10 year-prison sentence confirmed in 2016

2016

Lucie Tondreau

North Miami, FL (62,000)

Mortgage fraud

65 months prison

2015

Octavio Garcia Von Borstel

Nogales, AZ (21,000)

Fraud, theft, bribery and money laundering

Three and a half years prison

2014

George Grace

St Gabriel, LA (7,200)

Racketeering, corruption

Initially sentenced to 22 years in prison; reduced to 20 years in 2014